Shelby Foote: The Civil War: A Narrative (3 Vol. Set)
If you like David McCullough (1776, John Adams, Truman, etc.), you will love this history of the Civil War. I could not put it down. As is the case of most history, the book is full of leadership lessons and insights.
Dr. Bob Rotella: Golf Is a Game of Confidence
From time to time, I enjoy reading books on golf psychology. This is one of the best I have read. It basically focuses on directing a golf ball like you direct any ball—you focus on where you want it to go!
Eugene O’Kelly: Chasing Daylight
A remarkable by the former CEO of KPMG. Diagnosed with late-stage brain cancer, O’Kelly figures out life only when he is faced with his own imminent death. Must reading!
Mark Twain: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
I'm reading this now for our book club. I haven't read it since high school. It is an amazingly well-written book. It gives you a peak into pre-civil-war America.
Graham Greene: The Power and the Glory
We just read this book in our book club. I wanted to through it across the room after three chapters. But I stayed with it. I'm glad I did. It is an amazing novel with some powerful, redemptive themes.
Jeff Gomez: Print Is Dead: Books in our Digital Age
If you are in the publishing business, this book is must reading. Gomez explains why print is dying and why content providers need not fear—provided they don’t get too attached to the delivery mechanism. I found it to be very compelling.
Cliff Atkinson: Beyond Bullet Points:: Using Microsoft® Office PowerPoint® 2007 to Creat Presentations That Inform, Motivate, and Inspire
This is the best book currently available on making compelling presentations. If you use PowerPoint (or Keynote, for that matter), this is must reading. It will make you stand out from the crowd and deliver a truly stellar performance. I cannot recommend it too highly.
Wallace Earle Stegner: Crossing to Safety (Modern Library Classics)
This is one of the best novels I have ever read. It is an insightful story about the relationship between two couples over several decades. We read it in our book club, and it stimulated an amazing discussion.
John G. Miller: QBQ! The Question Behind the Question: Practicing Personal Accountability in Work and in Life
In this remarkably simple book, John Miller articulates the often missing incredient to developing high performance teams: accountability. I highly recommend this book.
David McCullough: John Adams
An amazing book. Absolutely spellbinding. This is a great book on leadership.
I originally committed to using Twitter for 30 days. So far, I have enjoyed the service and intend to keep using it. My wife, Gail, and three of my five daughters are active. I have sure this is one of the reasons I am still using it.
Don’t know what Twittering is? Read my original post on this topic. If you want to know how to get started, read The Newbie’s Guide to Twitter.
The Amazon Kindle has sparked (pun intended) a great deal of debate. It seems that people either love it or hate it. Me? I’m probably somewhere in the middle. Despite its obvious shortcomings, I think it’s a giant step forward, and I want to see it succeed.
But I think the device has a ways to go before it creates the kind of seismic shift that the iPod created in the music world. In order for an eBook to succeed, it must incorporate four essential components. I have listed these in priority order.
It seems that my post on Why Traditional Books Will Eventually Die has sparked a good deal of debate. So far, it has generated more than 40 comments and a number of email messages.
Christian Retailing even has an article coming in its January issue. It is entitled, “Nelson head predicts ‘death of traditional book’.” You can read it online here.
The Amazon Kindle is not the ultimate eBook reader, but it is a giant step in the right direction. After using one heavily over the last 24 hours, I have found much that I like, things I don’t like, and a clearer vision for what the next eBook device should include.
Interestingly, most of the people complaining about the Kindle have not even tried it. It is almost as if the mere existence of the device—and it’s possible impact on traditional books—affects them in some strange, primal way.
